With great guilt I am not writing this newsletter from the farm this week. I have taken my three kids to a violin music camp in Bloomington, Indiana where they can grow in their musicianship. For me it’s a bit of a vacation because I spend my days sitting and observing in air-conditioned buildings-not doing physical labor in the hot sun. It’s a completely different world. But for the kids it’s work. A ‘vacation’ for me even though we’re on a tight schedule and I’m shuttling kids around a college campus to lessons, group classes and masterclasses while we attend concerts in the evenings. It’s a ‘vacation’ because we have left the farm during the busiest time of the year.
The zucchinis are just starting to hit. The broccoli needs harvesting every two days. Cucumbers are going to hit any day now. The crops (and the weeds) are at their peak growing stages. Garlic and onion harvest are just around the corner. It’s high tide at the farm and one of the main farmers has left the farm. How is this possible?
When we are parents, we somehow achieve the impossible. Raising children feels impossible somedays. I often wonder how anyone works and raises children at all. It’s so hard! It’s also the reason many people do not work and raise children or do not have children at all. It’s. Just. Hard. I look back on the years of running the farm with infants and toddlers through sleep deprivation, constant interruption, and the infinite challenges of trying to work from home while also raising children at home. Our lives are just an organized form of chaos on a daily basis. Adam and I are an excellent team. We have our roles in parenthood. Our roles on the farm. We divide and conquer and communicate well (most of the time) about what needs to be communicated when it needs to be communicated.
I’m accustomed to guilt these days. Parenthood is filled with guilt. I feel guilty when I am working because I’m not with my kids. I feel guilty when I’m not working and when I am with my kids. I feel guilty when I have my kids work on the farm and I feel guilty when I don’t have my kids work on the farm. And because the guilt is unavoidable, I throw my arms up and succumb. Balance is my only hope. I’m extremely vulnerable when sharing all of this with you because I open myself up for judgement. How could she leave the farm? My hope is that you can resonate with me in some way. Maybe you’re a parent and you also struggle with how to work and raise children at the same time. Maybe you want children but don’t know how you’ll ever manage. Maybe you don’t want children because it looks impossible. I get that! It sort of is impossible. We just take it one day day at a time and miraculously get through somehow.
Ironically, ‘sustainable’ is the buzz word in organic farming. So much about ‘sustainability’ is important on an organic farm in terms of fertility, crop management, disease control and rotation. But it never seems to apply to the lives of the farmer. So much about the life of an organic farmer during the season is totally un-sustainable. The pace and the fervor with which we work in the summers is a little insane. It’s the reason we have a declining number of farmers and people interested in farming these days. It’s hard work that requires someone completely dedicated to the task and willing to give up their freedom to focus on the crops for 9 months out of year. This person is mostly Adam on our farm. Thankfully for us all he’s a real home-body. He’s happy to stay home and stay lazer focused on the farm while I manage kids, their school, friends, and make sure they have clothes to wear, food to eat and some kind of life other than the farm. I hear the words ‘work-life balance’ among the kids today. I love it. It sounds so nice. But it doesn’t really apply to the ‘sustainable organic farmer’.
Being a camp with my kids this week is me trying to find some kind of sustainability for them. They surely get to experience the childhood of being raised on a farm. They know how to work and pitch in and do chores and clean up and pack and load CSA boxes. But I want them to have other skills. Currently they all love to read. They each take violin and piano lessons. Their musical studies have given them a skill other than farming. They also have their friends and silks and horse riding with their neighbor friends. They need a balanced life and some time and skills outside of the farm in order to also love and appreciate the farm.
But the real reasons we’re able to get away are because Adam is there (and he’s phenomenal) and because we have an amazing crew of helpers. Without a solid crew of people showing up for their shifts when they’re supposed to show up for them is huge. We have community support. Some of the people helping on the farm also have kids and they ‘know’. They know that mom’s need to be moms sometimes. I’m working on shedding my guilt as a parent. It’s a daily practice. I also know that when we get back to the farm I’ll have an extra pep in my step. I’ll be refreshed. All this sitting and sleep and air conditioning is a bit of a reprieve. I’ll be ready to haul cucumbers like a champ and pick up the slack of anyone else who needs a break. This is the magic and beauty of a community farm. The community part makes it work for us all. It’s even humbling to see how well it works without me. When we build something much larger than ourselves we’re able to step away when needed and appreciate the truly sustainable aspects of our work.
What’s in the Box?
Lettuce– Green Leaf lettuce. One head per member this week.
Swiss Chard– Swiss chard doesn’t always look this good throughout the season. Notice how beautiful and bountiful the leaves are at this stage in the season.
Green Onions- One bunch green onions per member. We should have green onions for a few more weeks still. Edible from the base of the onion to the tip of the greens. They’re getting bigger with each passing week holding us over until actual onions come into season in a few weeks.
Garlic Scapes- These curly green ‘scapes’ are actually the garlic plants effort at making a seed head. Each plant produces one scape. When they have grown where there is enough edible quality on the scape, we snap them off and bunch them and give them to you. Scapes can be used much like regular garlic but they have a milder flavor. I usually cook with from the blunt end to the nodule on the scape, but the whole thing is edible!
Summer Squash or Zucchini– 2 squash per member. You may have received one yellow squash and one zucchini or any combination of the two squash. Dust off your favorite summer squash/zucchini recipes-the season is just beginning!
Broccoli x 2- or Broccoli and Cauliflower- Broccoli and Cauliflower prefer to be kept very cold. We recommend putting your broccoli and/or cauliflower in a plastic bag and get it into the fridge as quickly as possible. Broccoli and Cauliflower are both cool season crops. It’s difficult to get perfectly rounded and colored heads in 80-90 degree heat, but there will be many more successions coming on.
Kohlrabi x 2- You may have received either a purple or a green kohlrabi. I find that kohlrabis are best if you cut them up and eat the whole thing at once. If you try to refrigerate a partial kohlrabi or eat the leftovers the next day they become bitter. If you cut into one, use it up right away!
Basil- The basil looked so good this time of year, we had to share it with you. There is nothing like fresh basil in your summer salads!
Cabbage– The first cabbage of the season is always exciting!!!
Next Week’s Best Guess: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Red Kale, Squash, Green Top Beets, Bunching Onions, Garlic Scapes, maybe cabbage, maybe fennel, maybe cucumbers
Recipes-
Kohlrabi and Cabbage Salad with Maple Lemon Dressing
